Fire Alarm:

August 2005 issue

A short while ago, during a fire alarm situation in DePaul Center, I noticed that the stairwell doors locked behind us. Are they supposed to do that for security purposes or is it better to have them unlocked for safety purposes (to prevent a situation like the Cook County Bldg. fire problem where people died in a stairwell)? It seems that the latter would be more urgently important.

Response

According to Public Safety, the doors in the DePaul Center automatically unlock upon activation of a fire alarm from both sides. Once the alarm is reset, the doors do lock back up. If there was an issue with the doors not working properly, the matter should be brought to the attention of Public Safety immediately.